(EDITOR’S NOTE: Paint Monk’s Library, in collaboration with the enthusiastic staff over at the Into the Knight Podcast, are tackling the Moon Knight chronology! Each week we’ll take an in-depth look at the Fist Of Khonshu in a series of reviews, all in order of character appearance! These reviews will appear on Monday each week until we’ve covered them all, or until the enthusiastic Moonies get too exhausted to write. Whichever comes first!)

By JUSTIN OSGOOD – Guest Writer

The issue starts with our hero given the dramatic center stage, flying directly at the reader on the very first page! He is desperate to find the Defenders after his clever escape in the previous issue (see Defenders #48), but not really sure how – so he quickly makes his way across the city, thinking that Dr. Strange’s Sanctum would be a good place to start.

Review: Defenders #49

Back at Scorpio’s headquarter’s, Nighthawk is a helpless prisoner, and Jack Norriss can do nothing to help him. Scorpio recounts some important details of his origin – including how he happened upon the Zodiac Key in the first place – and realizes that he must activate his new android Zodiac early, knowing that Moon Knight will return with help to free Nighthawk and Norriss.

At the Defenders’ base, Hellcat and Valkyrie receive a mystical summons from Clea, informing them Moon Knight has the location of Nighthawk and Norriss and awaits them at the Sanctum. Upon meeting, they decide to enlist the aid of the Hulk to try and free their friends from Scorpio.

They find him several blocks away, and beseech him for help. Unfortunately for them, Hulk is in no mood to do anything but eat and be left alone. At this point, our hero and his new friends decide to kick the proverbial Gamma-powered hornet’s nest and spoil Hulk’s lunch, assaulting him directly. Moon Knight even gets a chance to bean Hulk in the forehead with one of his crescent darts!

This, naturally, causes the emerald behemoth to fly into a rage and pursue the team through the city. This would have caused serious problems if not for the timely intervention of Frenchie in the moon copter, who distracts the monster with a round of machine-gun fire. This gives Moon Knight, Valkyrie, and Hellcat an opportunity to climb aboard.

A daring aerial maneuver by Hellcat knocks Hulk loose from the moon copter, and he plummets into the nearby river, conveniently close to Scorpio’s headquarters. As the green giant attempts to stomp Moon Knight into oblivion, our hero moves out of the way, and the Hulk crashes into the building. At the end of the issue, Hulk is confronted by Scorpio himself, and his newly-awakened LMD Zodiac, standing mostly behind him in the shadows and ready for battle…

CAPSULE REVIEW: My introduction to this story is in the fantastic Bad Moon Rising: Epic Collection, and overall it seemed to be a bizarre placement for Moon Knight, especially so early in his career.

However, when you consider the constantly-fluctuating membership of the Defenders at that point in the group’s existence, it really wasn’t that strange.

I admit that I wasn’t all that familiar with David Kraft’s writing before reading this story, and he did an admirable job with what was then a very new and enigmatic character with little in the way of backstory or character development. Even though Moon Knight was obviously not the central focus of this story, he was still given a lot to do.

It was fun to see Moon Knight flying through the air at the beginning, and this is when we see Keith Giffen channeling some major Jack Kirby influence. Sometimes with Giffen’s art, you never really know what you’re going to get. Depending on the story that can be a good or a bad thing, but it really works in this one. The first page is dynamic and really pulls the reader into an exciting tale.

I  laughed out loud at the section where the team confronts the Hulk while he’s sitting at a picnic table trying to enjoy some peace and quiet. Valkyrie kicks the table into pieces, Moon Knight bounces a crescent dart off his forehead, even Hellcat kicks his face into the pavement at one point – the poor guy just can’t catch a break! No wonder he’s mad all the time; he can’t even enjoy a picnic in peace!

It was smart to involve Frenchie and the moon copter, not only to distract the Hulk long enough for the others to escape his wrath but also as a way to lure him closer to Scorpio’s base. One of my favorite moments of the issue was when Hellcat kicks Hulk loose from the vehicle in mid-air (I am also a big fan of Hellcat and was happy to see Moon Knight working alongside her, if only for this story!)

Overall, there was a lot of set-up for the conclusion of the main story in the following issue, but it was still enjoyable and a lot of fun to read, with the obvious highlight being the Hulk’s “battle” with Moon Knight, Valkyrie, and Hellcat. There is also a fantastic cover by Al Milgrom and our hero has an exciting placement.

Additionally, it is fun seeing Moon Knight in his costume with the original glider-wing cape. It lasted a relatively short amount of time before being redesigned into the billowing cloak that we know and love to this day.